BWB6: Intro And Measuring Online Influence

I'm in Chicago for Blogs With Balls 6 and taking plenty of notes. I'll be posting my notes from each panel here for the use of anyone who wants to check them out. Keep in mind that these are highlights, not complete transcripts. Every effort is given to be as accurate as possible; apologies for any transcription mistakes. Here are my notes from the introduction and the first panel, Measuring Online Influence.

 Introduction:
Don Povia, @HHReynolds:
"I hate to call this a conference. It's more of a networking event."
"It's a community-driven event."

Panel I: Measuring Online Influence:

Panelists:
JR Jackson, @jrsportbrief
Brandon WIlliams, @bjw5002, moderator
Wes Davis, content director, MVP Index, @mvpindex

WD: "We're trying to become like a Nielsen ratings for teams."

"People aren't stupid. You know when you're being sold to."

"Where real engagement occurs is when an athlete is actually living the lifestyle of the brand. A brand I think does this well is Red Bull."

Athletes talking about Team Red Bull, not just the product

Images of Red Bull in instagram posts

"When you're being authentic and living that brand, it works."

JR: "People are able to start, foster and build their own communities online."

BW: "It's a matter of hitting them where they're watching."

JR: "If you'd told me 25 years ago I'd be watching the Rockets and the Mavericks and there would be a Rockets Twitter account talking about shooting a dead horse, I'd tell you 'Get out of here.'"

WD: Athletes ranked by reach, engagement, conversation score.
"We ranked the top three by reach and engagement and then we started looking at their tweets."
"Are these people being talked about with connections to drug use, DWI?"

JR on his own deals: "It's not a one-off situation."
"It boils down to engagment and loyalty."

WD: "It's the people who are more real and more authentic that are going to get better deals."
John Daly: "He's the 708th ranked golfer. He's our 8th-ranked athlete."
"He's engaging people, he's having those conversations."
"You're trying to bring an athlete partnership that is real. You don't want to force anything."

JR: "If I'm working with someone, it's "This is what I do. What do you do?"
"It's very important to set expectations."
"If all of this is discussed beforehand and everyone's aligned, I've never had an issue."
"I wouldn't tell Dove 'Nobody wants white soap. Make yellow soap!' They do what they do and I do what I do."

WD: "If you used all of Cristiano Ronaldo's accounts, you have the ability to talk to a third of the population of the U.S."
"Doing something locally is probably smarter."
"If you're able to influence the influencer to get that audience to interact with your brand...”
“You’re never going to be sure you’re engaging the entire audience, especially if you’re somebody with a million followers. A tweet lasts five seconds.”
“Don’t overtweet. I don’t want to see that you’re eating a croissant and five seconds later that it was good.”
[But with that said] “Frequency is important.”

BW: “Just because they have a handle and a lot of followers doesn’t mean it’s being used in an effective way.”

JR on multiple social media networks: “I look at everything as programming. ...It’s about figuring what bucket it goes in.”

On paying for a single tweet
WD: “I don’t think a single tweet can do anything. I think it can get some impressions, but you need a partnership, you need a campaign.”
BW: “People right now are seeing right through a lot of those single athlete posts.”
JR: “It’s short-sighted in my opinion.”

Tipping point for JR?
“I’ve been very meticulous in building a community, building a brand.”

How a PR firm should approach JR?
“Hi, what’s up?”
“I like to take a lot of the BS out of business.”
“I am the brand and it is me.”

Comments? Questions? Ask me on Twitter or via e-mail at andrew_bucholtz@hotmail.com